Investing in climate solutions? An exploration of the discursive power and materiality of fossil fuel divestment campaigns in Scotland

Ella Muncie

doi:10.1007/s13412-020-00653-2

Abstract

Divestment is a climate change initiative that aims to persuade institutions, businesses, and governments to remove their financial investments from fossil fuel industries and instead invest in zero-carbon climate solutions. It has, however, also been conceived as an ongoing gateway tactic to curb long-term climate change and simultaneously secure social and environmental justice. Divestment has attracted global attention and is currently employed by numerous universities, religious institutions, art galleries, museums, and national and local governments, in various countries, including Scotland. However academic analysis of the movement remains underdeveloped. This article addresses such absence by giving a voice to the motives, tactics, and rationales as expressed by campaigners themselves. It identifies the collective action frames constructed by Scottish fossil fuel divestment campaigns in order to facilitate mobilisation and alignment with other climate change movements. A key premise of this article is to also explore the power of such frames to motivate action and to assess the extent to which divestment campaign groups can impact government discourse and policy. As such the article concludes by considering whether and how far divestment frames and discourses may have come to inform the climate change policy of the devolved Scottish Government.

Highlights

I’m very clear to myself, that the tactic is divestment, the campaign is stopping climate change and the end goal is social justice
This article explores continuities and divergences in the ways the ‘wicked issue’ of climate change has been formulated and addressed by environmental social movements and by governmental practice and policy. It focuses on the 2019 Divest Scotland campaign, coordinated by Friends of the Earth Scotland, which was designed to speak directly to members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs)
Divest Scotland calls upon these other institutions to invest in zerocarbon climate solutions

Summary

Introduction

I’m very clear to myself, that the tactic is divestment, the campaign is stopping climate change and the end goal is social justice. A Divest Scotland campaigner highlighted this problem when discussing the role of the Scottish National Investment Bank: ‘There is no criticism of the term “sustainable economic growth” in the Bank’s aims, when the term has been roundly criticized and is usually interpreted to mean “infinite economic growth”’ This underlines a key concern of campaigners that the continuance of an economic frame enables governments to fall back on policies that promote market mechanisms and ‘business as usual’. Despite this evidence of some convergence between campaigner and governmental discourses, interviewees continued to note key contradictions in the government’s position: Some institutions can be so hypocritical They claim to be taking action on climate change and publish all these shiny documents saying “look at all the great things we’re doing, we’re installing solar panels here and we’re promoting active travel” but at the same time they have x millions invested in the same companies driving the problem. Representatives go on about having the best climate change legislation in the world but week they’re celebrating that we’ve opened another oil field in Scotland (Divest Lothian)

Concluding discussion

Findings

Compliance with ethical standards